The death toll and tragedy in Haiti is horrific.  This Sunday (January 17th) we will take a special offering to be given through World Vision for Haiti.  Please prayerfully consider what God may be asking you to commit to provide relief -- in some measure.  In addition, we continue to pray about what else our Lord may be asking us to do in the coming weeks and months.  I will keep you posted.  May our Lord show mercy to the Haitians and reveal His powerful hand in this tragedy. 

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.   Rev. 21:3,4

Come, Lord Jesus.

Two weeks ago, I finished my men's small group - Christian Leadership Concepts group, CLC for short.  For two years every Monday morning from 6-8 a.m., I met with eleven other men to grow spiritually closer to God and to one another.  Ten of us finished, one had a job change and had to drop out, and another had work pressure that caused him to drop out too.  After two years together, we had formed a tight bond.  We had shared our lives together, ate lunch together, partied together with our spouses, went bowling together, studied Scripture together, read books together and talked a lot together!  Our momentum and enthusiasm as a group ebbed and flowed, some weeks it was great, other weeks it was hard work just to be together.  But we did it! Our walls came down.  We opened up.  We shared our lives.  I now have a group of guys that I can trust and I know will be there for me if I need their help.  CLC was good for me.  Men, I encourage you to join a CLC group, and if there is not one to join, then start your own.  Get eleven other guys and go through the two year curriculum.  It's hard work, but it's worth it.  You will grow spiritually and you will develop close friends.  Hebrews 10:24-25 says:  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.  Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Recently, I've been concluding my written correspondence with the statement "We live for Him."  I'm not sure if I read that statement somewhere or if it is just something that the Lord impressed on my heart, but this is cetainly what is in my heart.  Our lives belong to God.  We live for His glory.  We were made for fellowship with Him.  We were made to reflect His image and likeness, and that understanding gives my life purpose.  What a joy to know that the God of the universe desires us.  At the same time,  I'm grieved that I so often fail to live for Him by allowing myself to get dragged away into sin.   One of my favorite bible verses is Galatians 2:20:  I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 

I have a confession to make:  I'm watching Wheel of Fortune right now and I'm bothered by something.   I was just working on my Trinity Seminary course on Anglican history and I had the TV on for noise and what bothered me was Lena, one of the contestants, who was rooting on her competitor Marc to her left by clapping enthusiastically and hollering, "C'mon, Marc, c'mon!" appearing to want him to succeed at solving the puzzle.  I know that she is coached to do this by the producers, but really, do you think she actually wants Marc to win "big money?"  Do you think she wants him to solve the puzzle?  No way!  She wants him to hit "bankruptcy" or "lose turn" so that she, herself, can get a shot again at winning "big money." What I suspect she is really thinking is "C'mon, Marc, c'mon, hit bankruptcy, Marc, hit bankruptcy."  The apostle Paul told the church of Ephesus to put off falsehood and speak truthfully to our neighbor (Ephesians 4:25).  It is so hard for us to do this consistently when we're being pressured to be politically correct, or perhaps if we're fearful of hurting someone's feelings, or even when we might be playing for "big money."  How are you doing in this area?